The present invention relates to a spool braking device for a double bearing reel.
A typical double bearing reel includes a reel body, which is attached to a fishing rod, and a line winding spool, which is attached to the reel body in a rotatable manner. When used by a person, such as a beginner, who is not accustomed to a double bearing reel (hereinafter referred to as “reel”), a backlash may be produced when casting the fishing line.
Normally, backlash is produced when the spool rotates at a speed that is higher than the speed at which the fishing line is drawn out of the spool (hereinafter referred to as “line speed”). More specifically, when the spool rotation speed exceeds the line speed, the spool overly continues to rotate even after the fishing line hits water. This entangles the fishing line in the spool.
To prevent such backlash, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,156 discloses an automatic brake system controlled by a microcomputer. The automatic brake system includes a rotation detector, which detects the rotation speed of the spool, an acceleration sensor, which detects the line speed, and a brake mechanism, which uses magnetic force to control the rotation speed of the spool. When the spool rotation speed exceeds the line speed, the microcomputer drives the brake mechanism and increases the spool braking force. The microcomputer also determines when the fishing line will hit water from a detection value of the line speed to apply full braking on the spool.
However, in the above-described prior art that controls the braking of the spool just by detecting the line speed and the spool rotation speed, there is a limit to the braking capability. Particularly, in the prior art, the acceleration sensor is connected to the fishing line. Accordingly, the acceleration sensor detects the line speed only when the fishing line is being cast. Further, there is another example in the prior art in which a height sensor is used in lieu of the acceleration sensor. However, the height sensor also detects only the line speed. Thus, in each prior art example, spool braking is performed only when the spool rotation speed exceeds the line speed or when the fishing line hits water (i.e., line speed becomes zero). Further, in the prior art, the braking timing for when the fishing line hits water is determined from the detection of the line speed. Therefore, backlash prevention control is performed after the fishing line actually hits water. This slightly delays the timing in which backlash prevention control is actually performed.